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Cheechoo Train hits
milestone
First career hat trick paces
Sharks
12/20/05 - by Mike Lee
What a
difference a month makes. Sloppy play and a motivated opponent meant doom and
gloom for the Sharks earlier this season. Now San Jose is converting on enough
chances to walk away with victories. In what was one of their sloppiest games
of the season, the Sharks bounced back to avenge a loss to the Mighty Ducks of
Anaheim on Tuesday at HP Pavilion. Jonathan Cheechoo recorded his first career
hat trick to power the Sharks to a 4-2 win over the visiting Ducks.
And the sloppiness wasn't limited to the players. Questionable calls all night
long had both teams incensed with the officiating. Luckily for San Jose, they
were able to cash in when given the upper hand by referees Kelly Sutherland and
Brad Watson.
"We got the upper hand quick, they did a lot of
complaining and then all of a sudden we had five penalties in a row," Sharks
head coach Ron Wilson said. "That kind of threw us off our game, and now we
don't know what's a penalty and what's not. ... They cheat on every faceoff,
and they killed us tonight."
Anaheim was first to pay the price. With
Chris Kunitz in the box for an interference penalty, Jonathan Hedstrom was sent
off on the ensuing face-off for delay of game. Hedstrom was whistled for coming
into contact with Joe Thornton before the puck was dropped. Sharks head coach
Ron Wilson had complained that the Ducks were using the illegal face-off tactic
as a way to gain an advantage in the faceoff circle, and the referees agreed.
Cheechoo would convert on the resulting 5-on-3, by banging home a
rebound from in close. Cheechoo's line-mate, Joe Thornton, was credited with an
assist on the play.
Scott Parker who returned to the ice for only the
second time this season, scored his first goal of the season just as Hedstrom's
penalty was expiring to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Mark Smith setup the goal
by drawing two defenders into the corner, before floating a centering pass to
Parker who was breaking in on the net.
"That's my spot in front of the
net, and I just do what I do," quipped Parker, who last scored two years ago.
The Ducks would exact some 5-on-3 revenge with two minutes left in the
period after Tom Preissing and Scott Hannan were sent off 35 seconds apart.
Petr Sykora rifled a one-timer from 25 feet out, to beat Sharks goaltender
Evgeni Nabokov.
After stumbling through the 2nd period that would to
retain a one-goal lead, the Sharks turned the tables on Anaheim with two quick
strikes from Cheechoo.
With Parker in the box serving a high sticking
penalty, the Ducks allowed Cheechoo to slip past the defense on a breakaway.
Keith Carney hauled Cheechoo down in order to thwart Cheechoo's scoring chance.
The referees immediately awarded the Sharks a penalty shot, that Cheechoo
buried for a 3-1 lead.
30 seconds later Cheechoo intercepted a
centering pass at center ice, then split two Anaheim defenders, before snapping
home a shot of John-Sebastien Giguere's left shoulder.
"It changed in
a hurry," Ducks center Andy McDonald said. "We were on a power play, and next
thing you know, it's 4-1."
The Ducks let their frustrations with the
officiating during and after the game. Teemu Selanne had a lengthy discussion
with Sutherland at center ice as rink workers scooped up hats that had been
tossed onto the ice in celebration of Cheechoo's milestone.
"I think
if the referees would call it like they would normally, like they should be --
they get paid for doing this -- he would never get the penalty shot and never
get the breakaway," Selanne said of Cheechoo's scores. "That was the turning
point. They got a 3-1 lead, and then I can't understand it. They've got two
referees, and they can't call it."
Selanne would cut the lead to 4-2
with a goal at the 13:18 mark, but Nabokov came up big on several last minute
attempts to pull the Ducks back into the game.
"We actually didn't get
very many good scoring chances, so Cheech did a good job to get the most out of
it," Nabokov said. "We had two big chances in the third, and he got us the
game."
Notes:
The biggest play of the game may have been the
one that didn't happen in the 2nd period. Clinging to a 2-1 lead, the Sharks
were forced to kill of a four-minute penalty to Nils Ekman who had clipped Todd
Marchant with a high stick.
Mark Smith fought to a draw with Zenon
Konopka after the Sharks jumped out to their 2-0 lead. Konopka attempted to
instill some life into his teammates after their horrendous start.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, San
Jose, Cheechoo 14 (Preissing, J.Thornton), 2:17, (pp). 2, San Jose, Parker 1
(Smith, Hannan), 3:27. 3, Anaheim, Sykora 7 (S.Niedermayer, Selanne), 18:00,
(pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, San
Jose, Cheechoo 15, 4:46. 5, San Jose, Cheechoo 16, 5:16. 6, Anaheim, Selanne 17
(Konopka, Fedoruk), 13:18, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Hedstrom,
ANA (delay of game), 1:25; Kunitz, ANA (interference), 1:25; Konopka, ANA,
major (fighting), 3:30; Smith, SJS, major (fighting), 3:30; Parker, SJS
(hooking), 10:13; Thornton, SJS (hooking), 12:26; Preissing, SJS
(high-sticking), 16:33; Hannan, SJS (cross-checking), 17:08. |
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| 2nd period - Stevenson,
SJS (hooking), 2:03; Niedermayer, ANA (high-sticking), 10:20; Ekman, SJS,
double minor (high-sticking), 12:39. |
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| 3rd period - Parker, SJS
(high-sticking), 3:01; Ehrhoff, SJS (delay of game), 12:48. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Giguere |
18 |
14 |
| ANA - Bryzgalov |
3 |
3 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
35 |
33 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
12 |
12 |
11 |
35 |
| SJ |
11 |
5 |
5 |
21 |
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| Referees: Kelly Sutherland,
Brad Watson. Linesmen: Andy McElman, Tim Nowak. |
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